When I was flying, General Robin Olds was a Vietnam era hero. I found this story of the mission he led to change the war in the Sunday podcast email from The Merge podcast.
Operation Bolo
On January 2, 1967, a package of 56 F-4 Phantoms (plus tankers, airborne radar, and jamming support) took to the skies to execute Operation Bolo. Led by legendary fighter pilot Robin Olds, over a 12-minute period they took on 8-9 MiG-21s (depending on the source) and downed 7 of them.
Those lop-sided numbers don’t tell the full story though.
The Backstory
The North Vietnamese had been using their new (and few) MiG-21s judiciously, specifically targeting the Air Force’s F-105 “Thud” fighter bombers. The strategy:
1) Threaten the F-105s so they jettison their bombs (no bombs = no threat)
2) Get them anchored in a dogfight (the F-105 was built for speed, not maneuvering)
3) Avoid F-4 Phantoms at all costs
Making matters worse was the graduated response campaign fittingly named Rolling Thunder, which imposed restrictive Rules of Engagement (ROE), limiting the Air Force's ability to strike airfields, radars, or early warning sites. The North Vietnamese could literally see every attack coming.
Combined with hit-and-run tactics, the MiGs were tallying kills—and driving the morale of frustrated U.S. fighter pilots into the dirt.
To kill a MiG meant it needed to be airborne and somehow get it drawn into an engagement with the F-4—the fighter that the North Vietnamese were specifically trying to avoid.
Surprise!
The solution was to trick the MiGs into a fight by disguising F-4s as F-105s.
Jets would depart from F-105 airfields, fly F-105 strike routes up to Thud Ridge, and use F-105 jamming pods along the way so the North Vietnamese could see them. Except they weren’t F-105s—they were F-4s in disguise.
The verifiable combination of radar tracks, ELINT, and COMMIT would draw the MiGs into the sky to engage the “F-105”. Robin Olds pitched the plan to his boss, Gen. William Momyer, and the mission was approved on Dec. 27th, 1966. On Jan 2, 1967, it went off without a hitch.
Air Force-owned NSA-operated C-130B-II Silver Dawn was listening to the MiG-21 pilots in real time. Declassified transcripts of the intercepted comm include these translated gems:
“The sky is full of F-4s!”
“Where are the F-105s? You briefed us to expect F-105s!”
“I’d like to come down now!”
Fool me again: A variation of the ruse was repeated again days later. A pair of F-4C Phantoms mimicked an unarmed RF-4C photo reconnaissance mission profile and shot 2 MiG-21s down.
The Aftermath
In the span of 96 hours, over half (9 of 16) of all the MiG-21s had been shot down. The North Vietnamese were forced to pause flight operations and regroup, paving the way for months of more permissive strike operations—and sky-high morale.
Operation Bolo: a constant reminder to the tech-centric Air Force that the real advantage is the deadly combination of technology and tactics.
Bolo: Stuff You Should Know
The mission was named after the Filipino cane-cutting machete which doubled as a martial arts weapon. Sharp and deadly, the bolo does not appear to be a weapon until the opponent is drawn in too close to evade.
Operation Bolo actually comprised 96 fighters—56 F-4Cs, 24 F-105s, and 16 F-104s. The F-104s and F-105s were used in supporting roles.
Of the 56 fighters who participated in Operational Bolo, only the 26 in the west package entered the target area—and only 12 F-4s ever saw a MiG. But those 12 F-4s racked up 7 kills.
The 7 kills required upwards of 28 missiles fired from three formations—par for the course for weapons reliability at the time.
The plan was led by Robin Olds, but devised by the wing tactics officer Captain John “JB” Stone—he recruited two 1LTs to help plan the whole thing
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